A definitive masterpiece of the XX century, Tres Tristes Tigres (translated into English as Three Trapped Tigers ) was written by the “Premio Cervantes” winner Guillermo Cabrera Infante. It was censored in Spain under Franco’s regime and was read clandestinely in the author’s homeland, Cuba, for several years. Although first published in 1967, the book was only made available in its original entirety in Spanish in 1989 - in the Venezuelan Biblioteca Ayacucho edition. The photograph shows one of the original copies of the uncensored, 1989 edition. In the background is a view of South Kensington, where the author lived from 1967 until his death in 2005.

In it a master of ceremonies asks people to explain the function of the novel in modern society:

“One critic said, ‘To provide touches of color in rooms with all-white walls.’ Another one said, ‘To describe blow-jobs artistically.’ Another one said, ‘To teach wives of junior executives what to buy next and how to act in a French restaurant.’”

A 1922 edition of the Index, a book published periodically by the Vatican to list all the books the Catholic Church had banned. John Stuart Mill, Voltaire, and Heinrich Heine are amongst the authors listed in this edition.

Banned by the church in Paris in 1210: ""Neither the books of Aristotle on natural philosophy or their commentaries are to be read at Paris in public or secret, and this we forbid under penalty of excommunication."

Tropic of Capricorn is a semi-autobiographical novel by Henry Miller, first published in Paris in 1939. The novel was subsequently banned in the United States until a 1961 Justice Department ruling declared that its contents were not obscene.[1] It was also banned in Turkey.[2] It is a sequel to Miller's 1934 work, the Tropic of Cancer.

Exploring the themes of sensuality, a grim dystopian future society, a harrowing childhood, tragic friendships, and ancient world cultures...These books all had an affect on me during various stages of my life, and I cherish them as I would a photo. Each of them offers me a memory and a glimpse into my own timeline.

Written in the 1930s, Bulgakhov was so afraid the manuscript would be discovered by the Soviet authorities that he burned it (as does the Master in the book), inspiring the remark by the diabolical Professor Woland that dismisses the possibility. 'Manuscripts', he says, 'never burn.' Its eventual publication in the 1960s seemed like a miracle, with its savage satire on Soviet apparatchiks and the possiblity of freedom only found through the imagination. This is the Paris edition of 1968.

The Catcher in the Rye was the most censored book in high schools and libraries in the United States. I don't understand what the fuss all about. I read it, my 9 year old daughter read it and I gave a copy to my young nephew as a gift too...

In The Well of Loneliness (1928), Radclyffe Hall's tried to defend lesbian desire and to highlight social prejudice against what she called 'sexual inverts'. The novel was famously banned in the UK in 1928 and remains controversial today with many readers objecting to its rather bleak and, perhaps, pessimistic conclusions. Of course, The Well makes for somewhat uneasy reading at a time when we are more comfortable with affirmative LGBT narratives, but it is a wonderfully earnest and serious book that deserves to be re-read.

I remember reading this for the first time aged seventeen. I was thrilled to be reading something so controversial and overwhelmed with the new world this book opened up for me. I was too young and too ignorant to fully understand it. I think even now it is so dense and packed with ideas I would find new themes to explore. I was also lucky enough to have my copy signed by Rushdie in 1998. It's very precious to me.

I was looking for my copy of Catch-22 when I found this – The Catcher in the Rye made the ALA's top 10 list of most frequently challenged books back in 2005. I haven't read it since I was a teenager, but somehow this copy has followed me around all that time. Looking forward to getting reacquainted with Holden Caulfield ...